Your website should be a conversion machine that engages and makes your visitors take action. We’ve outlined a few quick wins to improve your website and get your stuff noticed.
1. Have a plan and communicate it clearly
Be clear about what it is you do and offer. You need to make sure the user experience is on point so the first time they visit your website they engage and potentially become a client or customer. Add a value proposition (A value proposition, or mission statement, tells the visitor what you do and why you do it.) Put your value proposition on your home page, in your headline if possible. Add it to your blog or about page. Let the visitors know exactly what they will be getting if they hire you, buy your product, subscribe to your newsletter or read your blog. Here is an easy way to devise your value proposition:
[our company] is where
[our audience] gets
[what information] that offers
[what benefit]
2. Implement calls-to-action
Once your visitors land on your site, do they know what to do next? They won’t know what pages to view or actions to take if you don’t provide them with some sort of direction or conversion flow.
Call-to-action buttons and strategically placed contact forms are one of the many elements that indicate the next step a user should take on a page. While many of us know that, it can be easy to fail to accurately use them to guide users through your website. Just think, what is the main thing I would like my visitors to do on my website; send me an email, check out our new product or leave a review – this will be your main call-to-action.
3. Use the right imagery that works for your audience
Not all imagery will work for you and your business or the message you are trying to portray. There are a lot of options for stock imagery even free stock is available. But another option can be to partner with a professional photographer to have shots taken of yourself as well as your products, office or staff members. It is so important to have consistency with the tone and style of your images, and using the same photographer will certainly help.
4. Don’t be afraid of white space
Whitespace is an essential design element that helps you break up the page and increase readability.
Although extra space may seem redundant, it’s actually responsible for readability and content prioritisation. It also plays an important role in the design process and positioning website design elements. So, don’t feel you need to fill that white space!
5. Stay mobile friendly
If you don’t already know, 80% of internet users own a smartphone, and “Google says 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing and 40% visit a competitor’s site instead”. It is totally essential that your site looks AMAZING on mobile as this is where your site will be seen most of the time. Depending on your content, sometimes it takes quite a lot of customisation to get mobile right – it is important to utilise all the space and still allow your products or services to shine.
6. Focus on SEO
Why do we have a website? Well to be found by customers of course! Although a lot of business owners find SEO perplexing, they still understand it is essential. This may be something you outsource to an agency but if you do, keep this in house then make sure you don’t get too side-tracked with the endless content possibilities you could rank for. Identify your key words, that your audience is actually searching for and devise your content plan around that. Just keep it really simple, even if you write a piece of content once a month, make it impactful and relevant.
7. Never stop testing and updating
A website is not a document you create, print out and forget about – it’s dynamic. It should be updated and improved – often. It should be updated according to new sales or products you are offering. Your list of clients should be up-to-date and your portfolio should include your latest work. This is stuff your audience will notice, if they see really old content on your site they will know you are not putting your best foot forward.
Ask others to test your site to make sure every link and menu is working efficiently. Check that user experience is still as efficient as it could be.
Want to learn more?
If you are thinking about a website re-fresh – let’s talk, we’d love to help you improve your site to appeal to your audience.
